


Soulmates don't exist

by Ogawdy



Series: LT week 2k17 [6]
Category: Warcraft (2016)
Genre: M/M, Soulmates AU, anduin dies, angsty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-01
Updated: 2017-07-01
Packaged: 2018-11-22 03:21:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,807
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11371530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ogawdy/pseuds/Ogawdy
Summary: Soulmates don’t exist. Nobody has had one in centuries, so long ago it has become legend. Soulmates are the bedtime stories your nanny tells you to go to sleep. Well, Khadgar has never had a nanny.Liontrust Week day six: prompt "soulmate"





	Soulmates don't exist

**Author's Note:**

> Alright, let's post this.

Soulmates don’t exist. Nobody has had one in centuries, so long ago it has become legend. Soulmates are the bedtime stories your nanny tells you to go to sleep. Well, Khadgar has never had a nanny. 

In the dormitories at night, there used to be whispers amongst the apprentices. A general consensus had deemed the subject too dangerous to talk aloud. Khadgar listened to the whispers, and dreamed that one day, he would meet his soulmate. He knew it to only be a dream but for years, him and the other apprentices would imagine what their soulmate looked like, where they came from, what they liked and they compared them to themselves, wondering if they would even like their soulmate, before even falling in love. Love was only one of the many subjects the mages of Dalaran forbade.

Soon, wrapped up in their studies, the apprentices forgot about their dreams of soulmates. Khadgar himself stopped thinking about it as anything but boring tales for children. As the Kirin Tor teachings began entering his minds, all thoughts of love, family and any sort of close relationship apart from that of the master and his apprentice disappeared from his thoughts. He simply forgot about it and would not be reminded of these legends before many years.

Aged eleven, Khadgar walked down the Violet citadels halls, readying himself before entering the Chamber of Air. The archmages stood before him, more threatening now than ever before in his life, and asked him questions. Khadgar answered with the truth he had been taught. When the mark of the Kirin Tor, symbol of the Guardian, etched itself into his skin, he pretended it did not feel as if it was burning much deeper than the skin and searing itself onto the bone itself. 

Anduin had grown up with tales of true love and everlasting happiness but soulmates were the one thing his mother constantly avoided. When he was five, Anduin had stumbled upon a book in one of Stormwind’s library. Ever since, every night, he would ask his mother about soulmates, and every night, she found a way to avoid having this talk. In front of their mother, Taria pretended not to be interested in the subject at all, even going as far as proclaiming they were just stupid stories made up of lies and fantasies. But when their mother left the room, Anduin would remove the book from where he had hidden it below the bed, they would both curl up at the window sill and Taria would read the stories.

But soulmates don’t exist. Anduin found out the hard way. Their mother found them, one night, curled at the window, and she had ripped the book away. When she understood, she had screamed at them. Anduin had not understood but the experience compelled him to keep shut about any thoughts about soulmates he may have from now on. He never even spoke of it with Taria again and the subject was simply never brought up.

When he met Cally, and fell in love with her, he was just seventeen. Their love was undeniably real and Anduin let himself, for the years he had her, believe she was his soulmate. She made him feel whole and full, happier than he ever remembered being and he never wanted to be away from her. When she died and left him with a newly born baby, Anduin almost could not bear it. And when, ten years after her death, Anduin woke up with a searing pain in his arm, he thought he was going crazy.

Tears fell heavily from his eyes as he screamed, waking up Callan and alerting the Keep’s guard. He clutched his arm to his chest at the terrible pain while someone tried to reach out to him. When the pain finally subsided, he slowly took notice of his surroundings. Taria was holding him, whispering soothing words in his hair. He slowly uncovered his arm. On the previously unmarked skin, black ink etched itself into the careful shape of the Kirin Tor coat of arms. Taria’s eyes widened at the sight. Feeling his heart break, Anduin started crying.

“What does it mean, Taria?”

She simply shook her head. They had both read the stories. He knew exactly what it meant. Callan, standing at the doorstep, scared and worried at seeing his father cry, retreated to his room. He too had read the stories from a book he had carefully hidden from Anduin. In his ten years old mind, the thought that his father had just received his soulmate’s mark even though his mother had died slowly registered. They never talked of it again.

Anduin learned to always wear long sleeves or hide the tattoo under a bracelet at all times. He did not even dare glance at it on most days. Even if the thought of having a soulmate had been a comforting one, Anduin knew they were a mage. Anduin knew from Medivh all the rules of the Kirin Tor, and mages were bound to celibacy. Anduin preferred it that way. There was never even a chance for the two of them. It had been crushed at the same time they were marked.

It would many, many years later before Anduin even let the thought of soulmates reach his mind. Stormwind was at war, Azeroth being invaded by unknown creatures of great strength and ignominious cruelty. There was a man who had broken into royal barracks.

Anduin opened the door violently, making the trespasser start.

“Are you the commander?” the man started asking but Anduin did not have the patience.

He caught his arm, twisted and flipped the mage on his back against the desk. His eyes shone blue as he muttered in an ancient language. Anduin felt his heart swell. He reacted out of reflex, putting his hand on his mouth to silence him and caught the free hand ready to cast before he could finish his spell. The boy, not even a man yet, stared at him with determined but tear-filled eyes. Anduin hesitated for a second before following the twisting feeling in his gut.

He pinned the boy’s arm to the desk and pulled the sleeve down. There, jet black against pearl skin, the mark of the Kirin Tor stood. Anduin stared at it in shock. It didn’t mean anything, he told himself, all the mages wore it. But the feeling didn’t quiet. Anduin straightened himself and refocused on reality. Soulmates aren’t real, he repeated the sentence over and over as he questioned the frightened mage.

“What are you doing in my city, spellchucker?”

He never spoke of the mark again and kept keeping his own hidden from all sight. The mage, Khadgar, turned out to be more than useful in the fight against the Orcs, in taking down Medivh. He was there beside him when he came back to Stormwind on gryphon back with Llane’s body. It was also Khadgar who presented him the sword and gave him the strength to take on the mantel of King Regent and leader of the Alliance. 

And if everytime he smiled at him, or laughed, or even barely looked, if everytime Anduin caught sight of him in crowds, or corridors, or even across the table during meetings, his heart jumped and raced as his tattoo burned, Anduin ignored it. He ignored it and kept silent. Just like he had always done.

Khadgar was more than used to his tattoo burning. Everytime he got near a magical object or person of sort, his tattoo glowed and warmed until the sensation became so familiar Khadgar did not even feel it anymore. If it burned a bit more than usual any time he was near the Commander, he did not notice it. Anduin was more than grateful for it.

Years passed as they worked side by side, bringing Stormwind closer and closer to victory. When Anduin prepared himself to face the Orcs’ champion, his last thought was of the mage. He wanted to thank him for everything that he’d done for him. But Khadgar was nowhere to be found.

Anduin’s body was retrieved from the scene of the duel and brought back to Stormwind. Khadgar, flying back from Karazhan, arrived at the same time the mourning parade entered the city. The body was given to Taria, who wept silently and held herself like a queen. Later, Khadgar broke into the room where they had kept the corpse, realizing with a pang of pain the grim parallel with the day they first met. He had been wanting to see the face of the man he had loved one last time. He had never allowed himself to say anything. He had not seen the point. 

He approached the coffin who held the body of his Commander and his King. He had been cleaned and dressed for the funeral in the morning. Khadgar would not be attending. He could not bear to see bury yet another of his friends in royal funeral. His face looked peaceful in death and Khadgar thanked the Light that it had not been hit during the duel. He did not want Taria to gaze at some of the horrors Khadgar had seen on the battlefield. Anduin had died in one-to-one combat, in the most honorable way for both Orcs and Humans alike. Anduin had died in mak’gora.

A drop fell upon Anduin’s immaculate cheek. Khadgar raised a hand to his face, realizing with belated stupor that he was crying. He had not allowed himself to cry since Llane’s funeral, when he had handed the King’s sword to Anduin. Suddenly, all his grief washed over him and he let himself be vulnerable, crumbling on Anduin’s body. He cried and clutched at the body, brushing the cheeks with all the love he never showed during Anduin’s life. All his regret and pain flowed out of him in this moment.

As he had clutched at Anduin’s arm through the vest they had dressed him in, he had pulled the sleeve up slightly. From under it was visible a clear line of black. Khadgar sucked in a breath. Hands shaking, he slowly pulled the sleeve further up his arm, revealing gradually the tattoo etched on Anduin’s skin. He had never noticed it. Anduin had never even mentioned having a tattoo. Soon, the reason was made clear to Khadgar.

The tattoo matched his own perfectly. Khadgar’s heart had never ached more of seeing the Kirin Tor’s mark on someone’s forearm. Anduin had not been a mage. This had to be his soulmate’s mark. Khadgar fought the thought, repeating to himself that soulmates don’t exist. And if his own mark had ached so bad the day before, right as Anduin was struck down by Orgrim Doomhammer, Khadgar ignored it. What was the point anyway?

Soulmates don’t exist.

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you think! :)


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